I've just joined this forum and I'm really thrilled: I am an italian girl, and I study English and Spanish at the University, but not enough poetry, I am afraid! I spend my time reading poems by John Keats, and reading books about his poetry....Actually I've just started studying him , but I am already in love with everything about him. i'M also reading something about Edmund Spenser: I feel quite fascinated by his poetry and especially by his influence on keats. sometimes I feel a bit "different" from every other person of my age:I admit poetry can seem useless and a total waste of time, but for me it is like a vocation, I feel I need to read and I need to KNOW. I am sure we live for something more than our daily routine, and I believe I've found that something in English literature. I also like playing the piano, and in my spare time I usually study some waltz by Chopin, whose music, in my opinion, is very inspiring while reading.

I am sorry to say that my experience at University has been quite tragic, since I've been losing my time studying things I hate. That is the reason why poetry has become so important to me: looking for oneself in some lines written by somebody who felt exactly like me, a hundred years ago or more, does make sense, to me. That really doesn't make me feel "different"...

I hope to hear from you all, and I will soon post you some questions about my present reading..."Endymion"...!!!!

CHIARA

Speak not of grief, young stranger, or cold snailsWill slime the rose tonight...

Welcome prudence/Chiara (how would you prefer to be addressed?)! We're always happy to have poetry enthusiasts on the boards (obviously!). It's true that poetry provides a great emotional release, regardless of where we might be in our lives.

I see that you're writing from Rome! Have you been to the Keats-Shelley House at the Piazza di Spagna and/or the Non-Catholic Cemetery where Keats is buried yet? They are both certainly must-sees for avid Keats fans; I can't speak for the rest of the forum, but my visit to Rome most definitely felt like a pilgrimage! You're very fortunate to be right there in the midst of it all.

Welcome to the forum, Chiara Yes, please do tell us if you've been to the Keats-Shelley House and/or the Protestant Cemetery. I have never been to Rome (someday, though!) but I *have* been to Keats House in Hampstead and it really felt like a pilgrimage to me. Although I could not really sense him at the House, itself, I sensed a Keatsian spirit as I walked along the heath.

Malia wrote:Although I could not really sense him at the House, itself, I sensed a Keatsian spirit as I walked along the heath.

This probably isn't the appropriate thread for this topic, but I feel like I should comment on this because that's how I felt, too! It's very strange, because I have to compare my experiences visiting various Keatsian establishments (the Keats House in Hampstead, the Keats-Shelley House in Rome, the Protestant Cemetery, etc) with visiting Dove Cottage in the Lake District. The moment I stepped into Dove Cottage, I felt the air change. . . it was an incredible feeling. It was truly like I could feel Wordsworth emanating from the grain of the wood. But I never got that when I went on my Keats pilgrimages. The closest I came was probably, like you Malia, simply walking down the paths of Hampstead Heath, or even hiking in the Scottish highlands.

Perhaps it's because so much of Wordsworth's identity as a poet comes from the environment of Dove Cottage, but Keats never attached himself to one place so intrinsically? I don't know, but I'm glad that someone else has observed the same thing!

I've been to Keats's House in Piazza di Spagna when I was studying at high school, and I remember it was an incredible experience: unfortunately, though, many things have been changed since the days keats spent there; of course, when he died, all the furniture used by the poet was burnt. However there is a sort of magic atrmosphere in that place, and especially in the non Catholic Cemetry: it is actually one of the most charming places here in Rome: when you get in there, it seems to enter a different world, almost under water! It is so silent, even though it is right in the middle of the city and its traffic. Shelley's tomb is impressive, especially for the lines from Shakespeare that are written on it; but keats's one is separated from all the rest, and that reminds you of one of his bowers...maybe his cave of quietitude...it does feel like a pilgrimage to be there. Moreover there is a sort of loophole on the walls around the cemetry, and when you look through it you see just Keats and Severn lying side by side. It is amazing.

If anyone of you come to Rome at anytime, just call me, and I will show you around with much pleasure!!!!!

CHIARA!

Speak not of grief, young stranger, or cold snailsWill slime the rose tonight...

I'm 17 and yeah, i'm a girl. My mother was very uninventive with my name. No, I am not French sadly. I just had the pleasure of learning it for 3 years. Of which however, I retained nothing.I studied Arabic for 10 years and know even less. [I can manage to read and write]In fact, I've lived in Australia for the past 8 months. I used to live in Dubai.I love poetry and literature. Like most people nowadays, I write my own. Mine are always handwritten, I detest typing poems and short stories.Keats is one of my many love affairs. A recent one albeit. I'm learning to adore him. Others include Shakespeare, T.S.Elliot, Dickens, Austen, Poe, Robert Frost, Tim O'Brien, Ian McEwan, Richard Laymon, Virginia Andrews etc etc. Curling up with a book in bed is one of my lifes' joy.I break into random songs all the time and I love to dance even though I can do neither to save my life. It's entertaining at best.I will be going to Uni next year and I hope to get into Medicine so I can become a Gynaecologist or I hope to get into Psychology and become a Child Psychologist.Psychology is my passion. People amaze me. Emotions amaze me. I get my license on Saturday and I am crazy excited. Wish me luck in not failing miserably. This forum is so cute.Anyway, I'm done taking up your time. Thank you for reading

Lauren. xoxoxo

I said to my soul, be still , and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing.

Thank you very much ^_^Don't worry, I agree with you. Most young people are too busy with "other things" to actually appreciate any kind of poetry or literature let alone a simple book. It pains me greatly. I do however get the whole "Oh you don't look like a person who's interested in that kind of stuff." I cannot find the words to express how much I loathe that sentence. I mean what in the world is that supposed to mean? Labels are very silly So that was my minute rant for the day. My life isn't interesting. I just make it amuse me. I'm in school now so I must get to Maths Class. Yuck.Au Revoir.

I said to my soul, be still , and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing.

Lolita.Spanky wrote:I do however get the whole "Oh you don't look like a person who's interested in that kind of stuff." I cannot find the words to express how much I loathe that sentence. I mean what in the world is that supposed to mean? Labels are very silly

The interesting thing about this to me is that the whole idea of "labels" is part of what adhered me to Keats at such a young age. I think people think of poets (and the people who read them) as aged, weathered sages who sit in fields all day pondering. I know that's the image that I had in my mind when I was 15! But Keats himself was a very young man. I saw his portrait in my textbook and thought, "Wow, he doesn't look like a poet!" Needless to say, my perspective shifted almost the instant I read "When I Have Fears. . .", and the rest is history!

I know! The whole film is just so painful to watch because you can genuinely feel what Hum is feeling through Irons's acting. Ha, did you post that before or after you knew of the ongoing DDL discussion in random ramblings? If not, then you had some kinda psychic moment.

"Let me not wander in a barren dream,
But, when I am consumed in the fire,
Give me new Phoenix wings to fly at my desire."